


tell me that you love me too

by likeanamazon



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, Valentine's Day, this was in my head and then it ended up in a google doc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 10:47:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29452539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/likeanamazon/pseuds/likeanamazon
Summary: Tara isn’t quite sure what she’s expecting to come home to on Valentine’s Day. Certainly not Willow in her dorm, and certainly not a candlelit dinner.
Relationships: Tara Maclay/Willow Rosenberg
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	tell me that you love me too

**Author's Note:**

> hi! this isn't exactly the best thing i've ever written, but i wanted to post something short and sweet for valentine's before the day ends. please accept this tillow offering.
> 
> set in season 5.

Tara isn’t quite sure what she’s expecting to come home to on Valentine’s Day. Certainly not Willow in her dorm, and certainly not a candlelit dinner. Her bedside table has been pulled out into the middle of the floor, with a cushion situated on either side to sit on. There’s a lit candle on practically every flat surface, including a little tea light in the center of the table. The curtains have been drawn, the fairy lights are switched on, and there’s even a heart shaped box of chocolates on her pillow. The cartons on the table, along with the yummy smell filling the room, lead her to the conclusion that Willow did, in fact, order Chinese food.

Mondays are Tara’s packed days, with classes seemingly from dawn until dusk. She’d left Willow a note attached to a little teddy bear this morning instead of waking her. Her honest plan was to call Willow on the phone when she got home, make some plans to meet up later, then take a nap. This is nothing like what she had in mind, but then again she’s never had anyone to celebrate the day with. No one’s ever gone out of their way to make her feel this special. She’d also underestimated her girlfriend’s dedication to the day. So, when she finally looks at Willow’s lovely, goofy, grinning face, it only makes sense that she can’t stop her eyes from tearing up.

To her credit, Willow realises straight away that these are good, overwhelmed tears rather than ‘it’s Valentine’s and we are not on the same page’ tears. She’d been holding Miss Kitty, but places her down on the bed in favour of wrapping Tara up in her arms instead. She spends a couple of minutes swaying them both gently from side to side, running a hand along Tara’s back to comfort her. It’d almost be a slow dance if her partner wasn’t sniffling into her shoulder. She doesn’t say anything until Tara pulls away, smiling despite her wet cheeks.

“Big emotions, huh?” Willow asks, cupping her face in her hands. She wipes Tara’s tears away with her thumbs while she waits for an answer.

“Yeah,” Tara whispers eventually, taking a deep breath to calm herself. She grips Willow’s elbows in hopes that it’ll help convey some of her feelings. “I can’t believe you did all this for me.”

“Well, I know today’s your crazy busy day,” Willow explains. “I thought it’d be nicer to come home to everything set up, rather than trying to go out and find somewhere to eat later.”

“It is,” Tara assures her, “Very nice. Thank you. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Willow steps impossibly closer to kiss her, but pulls back again a few moments later to laugh when Tara’s hands automatically move around to her lower back.

“I’d love to keep kissing you right now, but the food’s going to go cold if we leave it much longer.”

Tara settles down on one of the cushions while Willow goes to her CD player. The opening bars of _These Arms of Mine_ start playing, and Tara peers over curiously. “Made you a CD.” Willow almost looks embarrassed at her own effort, but the smile Tara gives her seems to reassure her once more. She sits down on the free cushion and breaks her chopsticks apart. They chat about their respective days while they eat, ‘accidentally’ dropping pieces of food on the floor for Miss Kitty to come clean up after them. Tara ends up dragging her cushion around the table so they can sit closer, and when _Put Your Head On My Shoulder_ plays, she does just that.

“Thank you,” she says again, playing with Willow’s fingers in her lap. “You made this so special.”

“It was nothing,” Willow responds nonchalantly.

“It’s everything.” Tara lifts her head to look at her, so she knows she’s listening. “Every day you show me that you love me as much as I love you. Whether you tell me, or you help me with assignments, or you clean Miss Kitty’s litter box so I don’t have to. Or, you know, you buy me dinner and deck out my room with candles and stuff. That means everything to me.” She squeezes Willow’s fingers for emphasis. “You make me a better person, Will. I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”

“You’re cute,” Willow says teasingly, then her face gets a little more serious. “But I know how you feel. Every day I wake up next to you, and the first word that crosses my mind is ‘wow’. I genuinely don’t know who I’d be without you, baby. And I never, ever want to find out.”

“Mm, I think I can get on board with that.” Tara leans over to kiss her cheek.

“So, what I’m hearing is that we’re both in this for the long haul, right? The ‘forever’ kind of deal?” Hearing that word from Willow makes her heart skip a beat. The thought of it should probably make her nervous, but it doesn’t. Instead, she feels elated.

“I’m in if you are,” she says with a smile. Willow kisses her then, seemingly unable to stop herself. When she pulls away, she rests their foreheads together and brings Tara’s hand to her lips to kiss that too.

“I think I might love you.”

Tara’s nose scrunches ever so slightly as she laughs. “I think I might love you too.”

Miss Kitty chooses that moment to crawl into Tara’s lap and demand she be paid some attention. The two girls don’t mind though; their evening is just beginning, and the cat will get bored with them eventually. Even if they spend the rest of the night humouring her, they won’t mind. This is their first Valentine’s Day of what they've agreed will be many. They’ve got a lifetime ahead of them to love each other, and plenty of future V-Days to look forward to within it. Tara can’t wait to see what their forever is going to look like.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! :)


End file.
